Senate Commitee investigates aggressive Internet sales tactics
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, chaired by Senator Jay Rockefeller, is conducting a hearing into customers unwittingly being duped into joining online loyalty programs when making a purchase. According to Senator Rockefeller, companies like Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty “have made more than $1.4 billion dollars through these tactics and charged more than 30 million Americans.” Rockefeller estimates that 4 million American consumers are currently having their credit cards billed for these loyalty programs and most are unaware of it. Read more
Kiva-Why I loaned Alice $25
I made my first loan of $25 to an entrepreneur through Kiva in September, 2007. Someone on an online forum talked about having lent money through Kiva. Intrigued, I asked him for more information and received an invite to join Kiva through email. Upon doing some research, I found that Kiva gave small loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world. The overall delinquency rate on their loans is a little over 2%, which is not too bad. Read more
You spent a fortune on your MP3 collection. Are you insured?
Like many people, you might’ve spent a huge chunk of change on your MP3 collection. With MP3s costing around a buck a pop, your MP3 player could be loaded with thousands of dollars worth of music. My Creative Zen has over 3,000 songs on it, but the vast majority of my collection are ripped from CDs. Read more
Blue laws are an anachronism
I moved to Colorado a little over 3 years ago from Washington state, having lived there for 17 years. I moved to Washington from California, where I essentially grew up. In California, there are no blue laws. In Washington, liquor sales are prohibited on Sunday, but beer and wine are still available. Read more
Boise State Broncos unable to find an opponent, but I have a suggestion
According to a story published today by Yahoo! Sports, Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier is unable to find a major opponent to play his Broncos, including a team in either the SEC or Big Ten. ESPN is trying to broker a deal, but no luck so far. The Boise State Broncos are currently 9-0 this season. Read more
